Balaji Telefilms to focus on its video on demand biz as it looks to put film biz on hold

While Sameer Nair, group CEO of Balaji Telefilms, said there are no plans to shut operations, he agreed the company will rethink and take more prudent calls.Gaurav Laghate | ET Bureau | August 29, 2016, 08:59 IST

The promoters of Balaji Telefilms are taking a more cautious and judicious look at their film production business Balaji Motion Pictures (BMP) following recent setbacks with Great Grand Masti and Kya Super Cool Hain Hum 3 and a legal tussle with the film certification board over Udta Punjab.

Many in the film industry said that Balaji Telefilms may decide to shut the film business, like Disney India.

While Sameer Nair, group chief executive officer of Balaji Telefilms, told ET there are no plans to shut operations, he agreed the company will rethink and take more prudent calls.

"Yes, we have suffered losses on Great Grand Masti and Kya Super Kool Hain Hum 3, but with Udta Punjab and Azhar we managed to recover costs. We do constant scrutiny of our business and we have four films under production," Nair said.

He, however, refused to say that the company is not going ahead with any new projects till next year. He said that going ahead, Balaji Telefilms’ focus will be on its digital video-on-demand business, ALT Digital, which it plans to launch in 3-4 months.

"Films was never a scalable business as it is a very high-risk business. For us, television is and will continue to be our mainstay, which is a cash-generating business. Movies will contribute in spurts, while our focus will be to build ALT, for which we have raised money also," Nair said.

According to people in BMP as well as the film industry, the company is not green-lighting new projects. "There is pressure on the film business," a person in the company said. "It is a very high-risk business and BMP has lost big money on films in the past one-and-a-half years. The promoters are not happy and have decided to wait for the result of Half Girlfriend before signing any new project."

Based on writer Chetan Bhagat’s novel, Half Girlfriend is under production and is slated to release in May 2017. "Whether we will continue to produce movies or not will be dependent on its response," the person added.